Shanghai

Two dead in residential fire

Two people were killed in a fire in the Yangpu district of Shanghai on Tuesday morning. The fire broke out at 8:23 am in a five-story apartment building and was put out at about 9:30 am, according to firefighters. One of the victims, an elderly woman, died in the hospital. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Guangdong

Police break up fake salt network

Guangzhou police busted a major cross-province salt storage and sales network and seized 283.35 tons of artificial salt. Police in the Guangdong province capital city teamed up with authorities in Shandong and Hunan provinces and arrested 12 suspects for allegedly producing and selling more than 5,000 tons of fake salt worth 20 million yuan ($3.23 million). Since May, authorities have destroyed artificial storage and sales locations in the three provinces, according to a news release from the Guangzhou police on Tuesday.

Zhejiang

Migrant workers' children at risk

Children of migrant workers have become a high-risk group for sexual abuse, as a result of parents' negligence, Modern Gold Express, a newspaper based in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, reported. The Ningbo Intermediate People's Court has heard 117 rape and obscenity cases this year. Victims in nearly 40 percent of the cases are minors, and nearly 70 percent of the crimes are committed against migrant workers' children. Many of the culprits are the children's relatives, neighbors and fellow villagers below the age of 35 or older than 50.

Beijing

Stricter watch on pollution sources

The Ministry of Environmental Protection has urged environmental bureaus at all levels to strengthen supervision of pollution sources and put sewage-discharging enterprises under public supervision. According to a circular issued by the ministry, environmental bureaus must publicize pollution information in a timely, fair, objective and detailed manner that complies with the law. "The public should be guided to participate in environmental protection," the circular said, adding that the public's right to obtain information on pollution supervision should be guaranteed.

Warning against inferior implants

China's health authority on Tuesday issued a circular to caution local government agencies and hospitals against inferior or fake implantable medical devices. Out of concerns over safety and public health, the National Health and Family Planning Commission called for greater efforts to ensure that the government-backed centralized purchasing of implants for public hospitals is done properly. Government organs or hospitals should have formal procedures for checking the quality and manufacturing permits of enterprises from which medical implant purchases are planned, the circular said.

Shaanxi

Oil spill pollutes river in Yan'an

Oil spilled from a cracked underground pipeline has polluted a section of a river in northwest China's Shaanxi province, local authorities said on Tuesday. The severe impact of a rain-triggered landslide cracked the pipeline, located in Yan'an city, on Monday, causing nearly a ton of crude oil to flow into the river of Haojiachuan. Yanchang Petroleum Group's Pipeline Transportation Company, the operator of the pipeline, immediately turned off the oil valve after the leak was detected. More than 3,000 people have joined clean-up efforts, and 18 floating dams have been built to curb the spread of oil.

Sichuan

Barrier lake tobe removed

Workers began to remove a dangerous barrier lake which was formed after a landslide and continuous rainfall, threatening residents downstream in Sichuan province, authorities said on Tuesday. The barrier lake is located 3 kilometers from a hydropower plant under construction in Sanjiao township, Hanyuan county. A rainstorm-triggered landslide blocked the local Liusha River, forming the lake, where the water level has reached about 40 meters, said a Hanyuan publicity official.

Liaoning

Rainstorm topples bridge, killing 4

Heavy overnight rain has toppled a bridge that formed part of a national expressway in Fuxin, killing four people, local authorities said on Tuesday. The accident occurred at around 2 am. Built in 1969, the bridge in Fuxin forms part of the No 101 national expressway linking Beijing with Shenyang, the provincial capital of Liaoning. The Raoyang River that runs underneath the bridge witnessed record flooding on Monday, with its level reaching the highest point since the river's hydrometeorology data was first recorded in 1951.

Gansu

Floods leave 10 dead or missing

Three people have died and seven are missing after torrential rains triggered floods in a county of Gansu province, authorities said on Tuesday. From Sunday evening to Monday morning, heavy rain pounded Huanxian county, dumping up to 42.3 mm an hour in Fanjiachuan township, said a county government spokesman. As of Tuesday, rain-triggered floods had forced more than 200 people in six villages to relocate, and 9,267 hectares of crops had been damaged, the spokesman said.

Guangxi

Police bust huge pyramid scheme

Police in a southern China city said on Tuesday that they have broken up a sprawling pyramid scheme, arresting 173 people, including 19 ringleaders. Police stormed a high-end restaurant in Beihai, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Saturday, nabbing all of the ring's 173 members, who were holding a grand banquet to honor two newly-promoted ringleaders. Police said the ring was involved in illegal fundraising.

China Daily - Xinhua

(China Daily USA 07/17/2013 page3)